Justification_for_Other_than_Full__Open_Competition_-_OQ_Measures_22_Jun_2017_with_Signatures.pdf

Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition – FAR Part 13 Acquisitions under the SAT

V 1.1 (30 June 2016)

MEMORANDUM TO THE FILE

Subj: JUSTIFICATION FOR USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

FOR A FAR PART 13 ACQUISITION UNDER THE SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION

THRESHOLD

I. BACKGROUND:

1. FAR 13.106-1(b)(1)(i) states for purchases not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold, Contracting Officers may solicit from one source if the Contracting Officer determines that the circumstances of the contract action deem only one source reasonably available (e.g., urgency, exclusive licensing agreements, brand-name or industrial mobilization).

2. As required by FAR 13.106-3(b)(i), this memorandum explains the absence of competition for this acquisition, as only one source will be solicited for this requirement (or for a portion of the requirement) and the requirement (or portion of the requirement to be sole-sourced) is not expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold.

II. DESCRIPTION OF ITEM OR SERVICE:

The Outcome Questionnaire (OQ) is a tool that measures the effectiveness of clinical services provided, this tool is appropriate for use by the Community Counseling Program(CCP), Family Advocacy Program(FAP), and Substance Abuse Program(SAP) counselors. The OQ is an evidence-based tool that gives feedback to assist Behavioral Health programs in providing continuous quality improvement, ensuring effective service delivery, and in assessing client progress. The OQ tool is also designed to monitor counselor effectiveness in moving a client toward the desired goals by providing timely and ongoing feedback, measurement of client progress, and assistance in altering service plans. Questionnaires are computer based, easily administered to clients, and are immediately scored upon completion, thereby providing timely feedback to counselors. OQ Measures, LLC will provide the Marine Corps a license to access the OQ tool at HQMC. A total of five separate measures will be obtained. The measures will include a general clinical measure as well as measures specific to program elements (FAP, CCP, and SAP). The required period of performance is 10 Aug 2017-9 Aug 2018.

III. THE DETERMINATION FOR USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION IS

BASED ON THE FOLLOWING (select all that apply):

A. ___ ONLY ONE RESPONSIBLE SOURCE (select all that apply):

1. ___ RESTRICTIVE RIGHTS. The source has established proprietary rights, limited rights in data, patent rights, copyrights or secret processes in the item or service required.

The Outcome Questionnaires (OQ) are copyrighted. It is not allowed to be utilized without the permission of OQ Measures, LLC. The OQ is a proven evidence based tool for clinical programs to assess the effectiveness of treatment provided to clients, effective in assessing client progress and is based on a client-completed questionnaire. This tool is appropriate for counselor use across all Behavioral Health programs, including the CCP, FAP, and SAP. The OQ tool provides feedback to assist Behavioral Health programs in continuous quality improvement and ensuring effective service delivery. The OQ tool is designed to monitor counselor effectiveness in providing treatment and moving a client toward the desired goals. It provides timely and ongoing feedback, measurement of client progress, and clinical assistance in altering the treatment plans.

Questionnaires are computer based, easily administered to clients, and are immediately scored

X

X upon completion, thereby providing timely feedback to clinicians. This approach cuts across treatment models, diagnosis, and disciplines, and is thus applicable in a wide variety of settings and can facilitate comparison among these variables. This tool has also shown that providing feedback to therapists regarding patient outcomes significantly reduces treatment failures and maximizes treatment effectiveness yielding improved patient care and a reallocation of therapist time to cases in need of special attention.

Based on current Marine Corps Behavioral Health General Counseling services and the service outcomes OQ is getting from being utilized in several MTF and other Military Services on the medical side this is the sole vendor to coordinate care for medical and non-medical counseling.

Transferring patient information to another program could potentially compromise patient care if information is lost in the process. Marine Corps is currently in the second year of using OQ and this is a sustainment to continue measuring the services that the Marine Corps Provides.

OQ is also listed on the DON Application and Database Management System (DADMS) and DoD IT Portfolio which allows it to be utilized on government enterprise wide computer systems.

DADMS is used to satisfy statutory and management reporting requirements, including Federal Information Security Management Act reporting and the Business Management Modernization Program certification process per DFARS 48 CFR Part 239, Subpart 239.71 - Security and Privacy for Computer Systems agencies shall ensure that information assurance is provided for information technology in accordance with current policies, procedures, and statutes, to include -

(1) The National Security Act;

(2) The Clinger-Cohen Act;

(3) National Security Telecommunications and Information Systems Security Policy No. 11;

(4) Federal Information Processing Standards;

(5) DoD Directive 8500.1, Information Assurance;

(6) DoD Instruction 8500.2, Information Assurance Implementation;

(7) DoD Directive 8140.01, Cyberspace Workforce Management; and

(8) DoD Manual 8570.01-M, Information Assurance Workforce Improvement Program.

OQ’s information Technology team edited OQ to meet the needs of the Marine Corps to protect the clients as outlined in the security requirements. OQ has been approved by the Marine Corps Command, Control, Communications & Computers (C4) Information Assurance (IA). It was determined with this protocol: the Commercial tool and its storage of information cannot be attributed to a single person, gender, etc. As such, the modifications were made to assign personnel their own identification code so that only Government officials with a need to know and authorization to know have access to the PII; however, the vendor on the other hand does not have any PII information on such patients and instead has the assigned number/code for personnel, without being able to match it to a specific individual. As such, this is commercial off the shelf software with modifications.

2. ___ EXCLUSIVE LICENSING AGREEMENTS. The item or service is only available from the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), or there is only one authorized distributor or technical representative for the OEM.

3. ___ OTHER REASONS.

B. ___ BRAND NAME

Item required must be a brand name, product, or feature of a product, particular to one manufacturer.

C. ___URGENT AND COMPELLING. The supplies or services are of such unusual and compelling urgency that the Government would be seriously injured unless the agency is permitted to limit the number of sources from which it solicits bids or proposals. Urgent requirements are supplies or services that will result in a work stoppage, or are mission critical and the routine processing time would result in injury to the Government. The determination that the procurement for the above item/service is an urgent and compelling requirement is based on the following:

1. Date on which the requirement was first identified:

2. Required delivery date/period of performance:

3. Explanation of why delivery/commencement of services by the date mentioned above is required:

V. CERTIFICATIONS:

A. Technical / Requirements Certification: I certify that the facts and representation under my cognizance which are included in this justification are complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Signature Name (Printed) / Phone # Date

B. Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Signature Name (Printed) / Phone # Date